Okay, this evening now we're
going to take a look at Psalm 47. Psalm 47. I'm calling this message or entitling
this message from what is said in verse 5, God has gone up. And this is referring to our
Lord Jesus Christ, God our Savior. God has gone up with a shout,
a shout of victory. Hallelujah, the Lord reigneth,
the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Christ has ascended in total
victory over sin, over death, over hell, over the grave. Total
victory, complete victory, eternal victory. We are more than conquerors
through him that loved us. Because he wins, we win. Because he has the victory, we
have the victory in the Lord Jesus Christ. This psalm declares
unto us that victorious ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ to the
eternal and exalted throne of glory as the God-man mediator. As my Savior, as my forerunner,
there is one God, one mediator between God and men, and that's
the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. And when he had by himself, as
our substitute, as our Redeemer, as our Savior, when he by himself
purged our sin, what did he do? He sat down. Why did he sit down? The work was done. It's finished.
He said it's finished. He sat down on the right hand
of the throne. The throne of God. The throne of God. Look at verse 8. God reigneth
over the heathen. God sitteth upon the throne of
his holiness. He's not upset. He's not worried. He knows how everything is going
to come out because he decreed and ordered all things from the
beginning. The Lord Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, our Savior, not
only successfully put away our sin by the sacrifice of himself,
totally, completely put away our sin, In him is no sin, and
he was manifested to take away our sin. And he arose from the
grave just as the scripture declared he would on the third day. Remember,
he was delivered for our offenses and raised again because he justified
us. But also, after he arose from
the dead the third day, after 40 days, you remember what happened? He ascended to glory. The disciples
watched him one day as he gave them his last instruction to
go preach the gospel in all the world, and he took his flight. Bodily ascended to the throne
of glory, wherever that is, and the man, Christ Jesus, is seated
on that throne right now, ever living to make intercession for
us. Isn't that a glorious thing when
we pray We pray unto our exalted, enthroned Lord Jesus Christ. As the man who attempted and
tested in all points like as we are, he can have sympathy
with us. He knows our frame. He knows
we are but dust. He knows exactly what we need.
He knows how to intercede for us. He's able to save to the
uttermost all that come to God by him, seeing he ever liveth
to make intercession for us. Now he occupies the throne awaiting
the day when he shall return to gather all his own unto himself. It says that in verse 9, the
princes of the people are gathered together. Who gathers them? the good shepherd who laid down
his life for the sheep. He will gather, gather his sheep. You remember, John writes out
of every tribe, kindred, nation, tongue, people under heaven.
Our Lord said, I go away to prepare a place for you, and if I go
away, I'll come again and receive you to myself that where I am,
there you may be also. The Lord's coming back. He told
us to watch. He's gonna descend from heaven
with a shout, with the voice of an archangel. and the dead
in Christ shall be raised up. And so we shall ever be with
the Lord, the Lord coming back. We may be living when he comes
back. I don't know. He may come back tonight or tomorrow. He said in the revelation, remember
chapter one, he said, behold, he cometh. What does that mean?
That means he's on the way. He's on his way. Now let's take
a look at verse one. Oh, clap. Clap your hands, all
ye people, and shout unto God with a voice of triumph. I was watching on the news just
a short hour or two ago when our governor visited some of
those counties that were flooded. And they were talking about this
and that and other things. And one company stepped up and
gave $100,000. And you know what everybody did? And they clapped
their hand. They clapped their hand in agreement.
They clapped their hand in a happy sign of we're glad we're getting
this money. Oh, clap your hands, all ye people. Shout unto God with a voice of
triumph. We do give God all the honor
and glory. And in our heart, we don't do
this naturally and sitting around like a lot of religious people
do and clap and shout and all those things, but we're clapping
our hands in our heart. We're singing unto the Lord in
our heart. We're worshiping the Lord in
our heart. As the elect of God, his church, we're all to clap
our hands and shout unto our God with the voice of victory
that Lord Jesus Christ has gained for us. He had by himself, with
himself conquered all our enemies. Thanks be to God who always causes
us to triumph in Christ. He always causes us to triumph
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing in this world is more
satisfying to a believer than to rejoice in the Lord Jesus
Christ and to clap and shout with the voice of triumph and
victory in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are satisfied
with him. But more importantly, you know
what's more important than that? God's satisfied with the Lord
Jesus Christ. He said, this is my well beloved
son in whom I'm well pleased. Hear him, hear him. We are satisfied and we do rejoice. We do clap our hands. We do shout.
to give him all the honor and glory. Thanks be to God who has
given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. We are
more than conquerors through him that loved us. The Lord Jesus
Christ meets our every need according to the riches of his grace. I
have a lot of need, singular, but it's all met in Christ. God
shall supply all our need according to his riches in glory through
the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the message of the gospel,
is it not? This is the good news of the
gospel. Christ is the winner. Christ is successful. Christ
is the victorious savior. He's the ascended Lord seated
on the throne reigning and ruling over all things. That's good
news. He's just the King I need. He's
just the God and Savior I need. This is a message of the gospel.
He's not a defeated, frustrated Savior, but the absolute Lord
of all things. You remember from our study in
Revelation chapter six, verse two, I told you that was a key
verse. He went forth conquering and to conquer. He's King of
kings and he's Lord of lords. Now, I think the rest of this
psalm gives us reasons to rejoice in the Lord and to clap unto
the Lord and sing unto the Lord for the great victory he has
won for us. You remember this psalm, let
me just read it to you, Psalm 98, 1. Oh, sing unto the Lord
a new song, for he hath done marvelous things. His right hand
and His holy arm has gotten Him to victory. Because He's our
substitute, the representative who stands for us, the surety
of the covenant, because He has gotten the victory for Himself,
we are winners in Him. No wonder Paul said, oh, that
I may win Christ and be found in Him. Now look at verse two. For the Lord Most High, The Lord
Most High, how high is He? There is no one higher than Him. He is the Most High God. For the Lord Jehovah Most High
is terrible. Now, usually that word has a
negative meaning to it when you say, well that man's a terrible
man. And you would say, well, he's
a no count. He's a terrible man. But this word here is really
for the Lord most high is tremendous. He's a tremendous God. He's a
tremendous savior, tremendous redeemer. He is a savior who
really saves his people from their sin. He is a redeemer.
who has redeemed us with his precious blood. He's a Redeemer
who obtained eternal redemption for us with his own blood. For
the Lord Most High is tremendous. He is the Great King. He's the
Most High and the Great King. He's my Savior. He's my Redeemer. And he is the great king over
all the earth. There is no place where God does
not reign. North Pole, South Pole, all the
way around the equator, God rules and reigns everywhere. Because
he is everywhere, is he not? He's everywhere. omnipresent,
ever-present God, omnipotent, almighty God, omniscient God,
knows all things. For the Lord Most High is tremendous. He is a great king over all the
earth. He's king of kings. He's Lord of lords. We rejoice in his universal reign
as the sovereign king over all the earth. The Lord Jesus Christ
was king when he got here. That little baby, virgin born,
God manifest in the flesh. You remember what the wise men
said when they came seeking the Lord? Where is he that's born
king? He was king when he got here.
He's not king by democratic process. He's king by the decree of almighty
God. You remember from Psalm 2, he
said, I've set my king on my holy hill Zion. He's God's king
and he's king over all the earth. It says that again in verse seven,
for God is a king of all the earth. Now, sing praises unto
him with understanding that he is the sovereign, absolute God. He is the Lord Most High, and
he is tremendous in all of his character. He is to be feared,
and he is to be reverenced. He strikes terror in the hearts
of his enemies, but he strikes reverence in the hearts of his
people. Holy and Reverend is his name. His name, God has given
him a name which is above every name. You remember Philippians
chapter two, God hath highly exalted him and given him a name
which is above every name, that every knee should bow and every
tongue should confess what? He's Lord to the glory of God
the Father, not Lord by something we did. Religious people have
this saying, well, make Jesus your Lord. You can't do that. God beat you to it in eternity.
God had made him Lord. You remember what Peter said
at Pentecost? God had made that same Jesus whom you crucified,
God had made him, what? Lord and Christ. He's the Christ
of God. There's no danger in giving him
too much honor for he is the Lord God Almighty that is worthy
of all praise. He is greatly exalted. We can't
exalt him too high. We cannot praise him too much.
He is worthy of all honor and glory for he is the king and
God of all the earth. He's no local deity. He's no
local ruler. He's king of kings. He has undisputed
lordship everywhere. He's the undisputed champion
of the universe. He never lost a fight. His record
is one million wins and no losses. He's a champion of the universe,
never fails. to accomplish all God's purpose. David, where is your God? Our
God is in the heavens. He has done whatsoever he has
pleased to do. Look at verse three. See what
I'm saying about this psalm? It's a short psalm, but it has
a big message. For he shall subdue the people,
the people under us and nations under our feet. He shall subdue,
and this word can also be given, he shall save his people from
their sins. Now, where does that, that sounds
familiar, doesn't it? Matthew 1, 21. He shall save
his people under his sovereign, absolute rule, or he shall lead
his people like a shepherd. And he's doing that, bringing
many sons unto glory. Our Lord Jesus Christ suffered
once for our sin, the just for the unjust, that he may do what? Bring us unto God. We can't be
brought any other way. He said, no man can come to me
except the Father which sent me draw him. All those who have
heard and learned of Christ, learned of the Father, come to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of God's power. The battle is not ours, but His. We cannot subdue one sin or one
sinner. The Church of the Lord Jesus
Christ cannot save anybody. The Church of the Lord Jesus
Christ doesn't pronounce, well, you're saved and you're not saved
and you're saved on the basis of what you do or do not do.
The battle's not ours. Salvation is His to give. Salvation's
of the Lord. The battle is not ours, it's
His. Salvation's not our doing, but His. He will conquer and
he will have his way over all his enemies. You remember Psalm 110? God said,
the Lord said unto my Lord, set thou at my right hand till I
make thine enemies thy footstool. He shall save and subdue his
people and nations. Every knee will bow, every tongue
will confess what? Jesus Christ is Lord. Verse four,
look at verse four. I like this. He shall choose salvation. Whose choice? He shall choose. Remember our Lord said in John
15, you didn't choose me, I chose you. He has from beginning chosen
us into salvation. What's this talking about here?
Talking about God electing love, isn't it? He shall choose. He
shall choose our inheritance for us. You know what our inheritance
is? Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's our inheritance. He's our
reward. He shall choose our inheritance
for us. We've been made heirs of God
and joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. We have an inheritance
that's incorruptible, undefiled, that stayed us not away. were
kept by the power of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He shall choose our inheritance
for us, the excellency of Jacob, whom he loved." Their sovereign
love, is it not? He chose us and he loved us. The excellency of Jacob, whom
he loved. Now, one thing we know for sure
about Jacob, he sure did not deserve God's favor, did he? But he said, Jacob have I loved,
Esau have I hated. There is sovereign love. The
excellency of his love is sovereign love. Sovereign love. Sovereign
love in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's given us an inheritance,
but he's also chosen us for his inheritance. Think about that.
The Lord's portion is his people. Jacob is a lot of his inheritance. The excellency or glory of Jacob
whom he loved. Sovereign love. Here is love,
not that we love God. He loved us and sent his son
to be the sacrifice for our sin. The excellency of his love. When we talk about love, I don't
too much care for that song that a lot of people often sing, oh,
how I love Jesus, oh, how I love Jesus. We do, but not like we
should. But the better thought is this,
oh, I like to sing on how much he loves us. He loves us with
an eternal, everlasting love, does he not? He shall choose
our inheritance for us, That's God's eternal electing love,
and the excellency of Jacob, whom he loved. He chose us out
of love. He's blessed us with all spiritual
blessing in the heavenlies in Christ, according as he has chosen
us in him before the foundation of the world, according to the
adoption of what? His love. His love. He loved us. We didn't love him. We only loved him because he
first loved us, right? Look at verse five. God has gone
up. Who is the Lord Jesus Christ?
God has gone up with a shout of victory. The Lord with the
sound of a trumpet. Victory. When Christ came in
the flesh to accomplish our salvation, he came with a shout of victory,
right? What did those angels say to
the shepherd in the field? Unto you this day is born in
the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And immediately
the heavens were full of angels singing, glory to God in the
highest, peace on earth, good will toward men. Not mankind, men. When he came in the flesh, The
angels shouted glory to God. And when he ascended as a forerunner
and entered in and is seated for us as our surety, as our
savior, as our mediator, having accomplished all of our salvation,
can you imagine the shouts of all those glorified angels and
the glorified saints? When the Lord Jesus Christ came
back to glory, That's the God-man mediator. They're still shouting
about it. And they'll never stop shouting
about it. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive all
honor, power, glory, and blessing both now and forever and ever.
They're still taken up with him. He descended with a shout of
victory and he ascended to glory with a shout of victory as well.
He descended as our representative for us and he ascended as our
representative for us. For the forerunner has entered
in and is seated. We read that in Hebrews chapter
6 verse 20. Verse 19 says, Which hope we
have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and
which entereth in to that within the veil, where the forerunner
is for us entered. Even Jesus made a high priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek. He's the eternal priest of God.
Again, oh, what good news. Look at verse 6 and 7. Now, he
says, sing about it. Sing praises to God. Sing praises. Sing praises unto the King. He's
God our King. Look at verse 7. For God is the King of all the
earth. Now sing praises and do it with
understanding. Turn just back one page and look
at Psalm 44 verse four. Psalm 44 verse four. Thou art my king, O God. Command
deliverances for Jacob, Jacob whom I love." What does he do? Command deliverances for us. And then there's another reference
here. I believe it is Psalm 74, if you want to find Psalm 74. Verse 12, Psalm 74, 12. Here's
another reference about God, our King. For my King, my God,
for God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the
earth. Those are two good references
on verse... Verse seven, Psalm 47, verse
seven. For God is a King, of all the
earth. Our God in the heavens. You remember
what King Nebuchadnezzar said when his understanding returned
unto him? He said, all the habitants of
the earth are reputed as nothing. And he does according to his
will in the army of heaven among the habitants of this earth that
no one can stay his hand. Or saying to him, Lord God Almighty,
what doest thou? God is the king of all the earth.
Now sing praises and do it with understanding. He never ceases
to be good, let us never cease to be grateful. He never ceases
to be God, let us ever worship him as God. He seeketh such to
worship him in what? Spirit and in truth. Let us worship
him with understanding of who he is and what he has accomplished. When we worship with understanding,
we're understanding who he is. and what he has done. We don't
worship out of ignorance. He seeketh such to worship him
in spirit and in truth. True faith is not born of ignorance. True faith is not born of lies. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the Word of God. We don't worship in ignorance.
We worship with understanding. He's given us an understanding. You remember 1 John 5, 21? Let
me just read it to you. 1 John 5, 21, we know the Son
of God has come. He's given us an understanding
that we may know him that is true and that we're in him that
is true. Even in his Son, Jesus Christ,
this is a true God. eternal life and we know the
Son of God has come and he's given us an understanding. The
natural man receives not the things of God, but he's given
us an understanding because he's granted us faith to receive his
word and believe it and trust him for all of our salvation. Those who worship with understanding
will not tolerate the worship of mere idols. Look at verse eight, God reigneth. over the heathen. God reigneth. You know the word sovereignty?
We use that word a lot in preaching and talking about the attributes
of God. The sovereignty of God. Most
of you have read Arthur Pink's book on the sovereignty of God.
You know the word sovereignty is not in the Bible. The truth of it is, and the root
of it is, what's the root word of sovereignty? God reigns. God reigneth. It's not that he
did reign or that he will reign, he reigneth right now. He's always
reigned. As God, he is the sovereign over
all the earth. The heathen, Jew or Gentile,
the pagan, he reigns over all. God sitteth upon the throne of
his holiness. God reigneth over all. He's the king over all the earth,
over all the universe, in all places. Our great God does reign. He does reign over all. And we
certainly preach sovereign grace, don't we? God reigneth. God reigneth over all. One man
who preaches here down the road challenged me one day. He said,
you can't show me a scripture in the Bible that says, that
talks about sovereign grace. What an idiot. What an idiot. A man knows nothing about the
God of scripture. Sin hath reigned unto death,
even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life. There it is. Grace reigns. God reigneth. God reigneth. Where does he not reign? He reigns
everywhere. His rule, his sovereignty, his
power, his dominion, his dominion. I thought of this scripture here.
Turn and read this with me. Psalm 73. No, Psalm 72. Psalm 72, look at this. Look at verse 6. Psalm 72, he
shall come down like rain upon the mown grass, as showers that
water the earth. In his days shall righteousness
flourish and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth,
he shall have dominion. Also, from sea to sea, from the
river to the ends of the earth, they that dwell in the wilderness
shall bow before him, and his enemy shall lick the dust. Psalm 72. Maybe we'll look at
that one next week. That's a good one right there.
Psalm 72. I think it's been a while since we've looked at that one.
Whatsoever the Lord please, that's what he does, in heaven, earth,
sea, and all deep places, our God reigneth. As God who reigns,
he sits upon the throne. You see it there? God sits upon
the throne, and it's a throne of holiness. Holy, holy, holy
Lord God Almighty. That's the chief attribute of
God. It's not love. It's holy. His love is holy love, his mercy
is holy mercy. God sent us upon the throne of
his holiness. Unmoved, he occupies an undisputed
throne whose decrees, acts, and commands are holiness itself. He is never dismayed or in a
dilemma about anything. He does everything He's agreed
to do exactly in the right way, in the right time, to the right
end, His glory. A throne of holiness to be reverenced
by all, a throne of judgment to be feared by all, a throne
of grace to be loved by all. Remember Hebrews 4, it says,
come boldly unto the throne of grace that you may obtain mercy,
find grace to help in time of need. Aren't you glad it's the
throne of holiness? But aren't you glad it's the
throne of grace? And it's only because of Christ.
And it's the throne of glory to be praised by all. Let everything
that hath breath, the last verse in the book of Psalms, let everything
that hath breath praise ye the Lord. God reigneth over the heathen,
he sitteth upon the throne of his holiness, verse 9. the princes of the people. And
I take that to mean his elect because he talks about the people
of the God of Abraham. You remember in Abraham shall
all the earth be blessed in that special seed of Abraham. Who
is that special seed of Abraham? Christ. Isaac is the picture
of Christ. He shall gather together the
people, the people of the God of Abraham for the shields of
the earth belonging to God, he is greatly exalted. Well, he ought to be. He's the
king of all the earth. He sits on the absolute throne
of dominion. Because the Lord will gather
out his people, his elect, from darkness unto light, from death
unto life, from sin unto darkness, let us praise his glorious name. For Christ is our shield, he's
our security, he's our defense, he's our salvation. Our Lord
says, I give them eternal life and they shall never perish.
He is greatly, he is greatly exalted. greatly exalted. Salvation is of the Lord. He's exalted to the throne of
glory. He's also exalted in our heart. Christ in you is a hope
of glory. He's exalted, you remember in
our study in the book of Acts chapter five, he's exalted a
prince and savior. He's exalted as a prince and
savior to give repentance and forgiveness of sins unto his
people. Can you exalt him too high? Can
you give him too much glory? Can you give him too much honor?
Can you preach his sovereignty too high, too big, too wide? I wish I could. He is greatly exalted. Think about all this. He's our
Savior, our Mediator, our Advocate. He ever lives right now, right
now. He's seated on that throne right
now. The God-man, Mediator, who loves
us and cares for us, right now he sits there interceding for
us. Isn't that a blessing? We ought
to think about that every time we pray. We don't just pray to
be praying. I think about when I personally
in my heart and when I pray together with you, we're praying unto
the living Lord right now.